This is the week!

This week I’m putting my body in charge.  I’d like to hear what it has to say about how I’m living my life and what it would do differently given the chance.  Now it has its chance.

I’m imagining it’ll have some things to say about the amount of sleeping, eating, resting, exercising and sitting quietly I do and I’m open to hearing from it on any other topics as well.

I’m looking to uncover my natural rhythms and see how close to or far away from my adopted habits they are.

The ways my body will be in charge

I’m going to go to sleep when my body tells me I’m tired, rather than stay up and socialise or finish e-mails

I’m going to allow my body to wake up naturally in the morning when it’s had enough sleep rather than set an alarm

I’m going to eat when my body tells me it’s hungry rather than when it’s lunchtime or others have arrived to join me

Exercise is a bit different for me as I don’t believe I’ve ever received a signal from my body telling me it would like to exercise.  With this one I’m going to do what I had planned and watch closely for signs.  Signs of ease telling me it’s OK to keep going and signs of distress telling me to slow down or stop.

I tend to get frazzled if I don’t take enough time quietly on my own, either reading, thinking about a client or meditating. I’ll watch for signs of frazzle and whether it’s due to lack of quiet.

There’s other things I know contribute hugely to the wellbeing of my soul and I’ll keep an eye on those too

Order, beauty and good smells in my home (I work here too so doubly important)
A balance of stillness and movement

Pleasure and fun, I can tip over into work, work, work, very easily and become dull without noticing

Talking of pleasure,  I drink wine (one – three glasses) and coffee (one cup) most days and plan to continue with these pleasures.  They are for pure pleasure and not imbibed in order to get my body to do things it wouldn’t do without them, like wind down or stay awake so I can drive or finish a piece of work.  I know they’ll have an impact on my rhythms and I’m going to accept that distortion.

So….I’ve begun, my body is in charge and I’m listening.

I’ll note down what it asks for and how far that is from what I’d have done.  I hope it’s not too far!

I’ll report the findings through the week.  Now…time for wine…..